Why you need version control for your Word documents

Why you need version control for your Word documents(simuldocs.com)

4 points by ben-morris 8 years ago | 2 comments

I've advocated for version control of documents (and they're Word docs, no matter what tech stack the project uses) since the mid-90s. Don't do this unless you want project managers to look at you like you're growing a second face on your ass.

But working with source code without version control (usually something useless you have to pay for)!?!? Why, that's against Best Practices! What if you get hit by a bus!?!?

I'm amused that someone is trying to monetize the fact that Word's weird file format isn't amenable to any kind of ordinary version control. Good on ya, and more power to you, Simul! The world needs Word docs in version control, and I'm not being facetious or ironic.

PaulHoule 8 years ago | |

I don't know if the format is as bad as you think.

A DOCX file is just a ZIP file which has XML, PNG, JPG, etc. files in it.

In principle you could unpack the ZIP, manage the directory with conventional VC tools, then repack the ZIP to open it in word. At that point it's mainly an issue of managing changes in the XML, which may or may not be easy based on how stable the XML is (does it change in huge ways for no reason?); "track changes" data could also be helpful for locating exactly what changed and merging it.

Neat looking product!